Windows firewall rule for XP - windows

Question

How to programmatically add an application or port to Windows Firewall on Windows XP?

Answer 1

Try this code extracted from our open source SQlite3UI.pas unit:
function GetXPFirewall(var fwMgr, profile: OleVariant): boolean;
begin
Result := (Win32Platform=VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT) and
(Win32MajorVersion>5) or ((Win32MajorVersion=5) and (Win32MinorVersion>0));
if result then // need Windows XP at least
try
fwMgr := CreateOleObject('HNetCfg.FwMgr');
profile := fwMgr.LocalPolicy.CurrentProfile;
except
on E: Exception do
result := false;
end;
end;
const
NET_FW_PROFILE_DOMAIN = 0;
NET_FW_PROFILE_STANDARD = 1;
NET_FW_IP_VERSION_ANY = 2;
NET_FW_IP_PROTOCOL_UDP = 17;
NET_FW_IP_PROTOCOL_TCP = 6;
NET_FW_SCOPE_ALL = 0;
NET_FW_SCOPE_LOCAL_SUBNET = 1;
procedure AddApplicationToXPFirewall(const EntryName, ApplicationPathAndExe: string);
var fwMgr, profile, app: OleVariant;
begin
if GetXPFirewall(fwMgr,profile) then
try
if profile.FirewallEnabled then begin
app := CreateOLEObject('HNetCfg.FwAuthorizedApplication');
try
app.ProcessImageFileName := ApplicationPathAndExe;
app.Name := EntryName;
app.Scope := NET_FW_SCOPE_ALL;
app.IpVersion := NET_FW_IP_VERSION_ANY;
app.Enabled :=true;
profile.AuthorizedApplications.Add(app);
finally
app := varNull;
end;
end;
finally
profile := varNull;
fwMgr := varNull;
end;
end;
procedure AddPortToXPFirewall(const EntryName: string; PortNumber: cardinal);
var fwMgr, profile, port: OleVariant;
begin
if GetXPFirewall(fwMgr,profile) then
try
if profile.FirewallEnabled then begin
port := CreateOLEObject('HNetCfg.FWOpenPort');
port.Name := EntryName;
port.Protocol := NET_FW_IP_PROTOCOL_TCP;
port.Port := PortNumber;
port.Scope := NET_FW_SCOPE_ALL;
port.Enabled := true;
profile.GloballyOpenPorts.Add(port);
end;
finally
port := varNull;
profile := varNull;
fwMgr := varNull;
end;
end;
It will allow you to add an application or a port to the XP firewall.
Should work from Delphi 6 up to XE.

Answer 2

Scripting the Windows Firewall is possible, see Scripting the Windows Firewall
And code examples for example here